Preening Feathers
by jawnwhatson
Summary: A story in which the Whinchester brothers find a mess of feathers in they're hotel room.
1. pluck

Preening feathers

Feathers, tons of them. Tons of feathers and they were all the fuck of the place. All of them different shades from black, to brown, to white. Sam stood among the mass of them in utter amazement. He has had his fair share of demon , and if the occasion called for it he could handle a burglar. But never before had he seen the aftermath of a home invasion such as this, demon or burglar otherwise. He wasn't truly upset about the feathery mess, but more curious as to what kind of person (or creature) would come into another person's home and touch nothing, but manage to mutilate all the pillows without actually empting them.

That's when he heard a knock at the door, _dean is home_. If he saw this mess, he'd through the biggest shit fit Sam has seen in years. He frantically tried to scope them all up in his arms, but dropped them pitifully hearing the door click open.

"Sammy, I'm ho- what the hell!"

"Dean calm down."

"Calm down, CALM DOWN! Are you not aware there are a shit ton of- of, what exactly are those." Sam reached over to the light, and light gave them a better view of the mess. They were not just your normal pigeon feathers, no, these were big. Dean quickly put down the beer and snacks he was out buying and took a feather and held it up to his arm. They were baffled that it took up nearly all of Dean's arm space.

Both brothers tried to follow the strewn about feathers. I was hard to find the source, seeing as the feathers had many pathways. Soon they found a very familiar trench coat, discarded from its owner. They both looked at each other with blanks stares, coming to terms with who the house desecrater. Now they hurried, chucking things out of the way.

Along the way they also found a button up shirt, then a tie. By then they were far from their own apartment and in the lobby of the hotel. They had lost the trail as soon as they found a janitor cleaning up the remains of the trail, by the looks of It not very happy about having to clean up the mess. Sam rushed to him while dean scooped out the area trying not to look nervous.

"Hey you, uh… janitor."

"The names max if you don't mind lad." Sam ignored the attitude.

"Uh, hi can you tell me if you have seen anything, uh… weird around here?"

"You sure do say Uh a lot sunny, and nothing really out of ordinary except these blasted feathers. I have already called animal control, assumin them birdies who made this mess are still here. So don't you worry about it."

"Did you see these birds?"

"Nope, I can't say that I have. One second ima just mindin my own business, turned to clean them there pictures, turn around and them blasted feather were floatin around then whole damned lobby."

"Well do you Know where the feathers were leading?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions, them your birds?"

"Yeah you could say that, and if you tell me where they are I can keep him from messing up this lobby again."

"Well why didn't you say so. Them feather lead down that hall right thar."

"Thank you so much I cant th-"

"Hey city boy, you better stop yer yappin and grab them birdies before dat animal control get here."

"Oh, um, ok…" Sam awkwardly walked away still hearing the janitor mumble to himself.


	2. prick

Chapter 2

Thank you so much for the reviews guys. You're all so sweet, so here have chapter 2.

Sorry it's a little short

* * *

Sam and Dean were now running, no, sprinting down the hallway that seemed never ending. Both not knowing what to expect , but to not have a clue what you'd find was just another luxury of being a hunter. They rounded another corridor, passing by fewer piles of feathers than the last. Dean Slowed his pace.

"Sammy!" Sam slowed down and promptly jotted back to dean who was deadlocked of the feathers.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Take a look at this…" Dean held a feather to Sam's face. The feather was covered in blood at the tip, it clotted through the fine fibers of the feather.

",the hell?" Sam nearly whispered.

Suddenly a faint, but audible flutter came from further down the hall. It sounded like one big ass bird trying to play hide n' seek with its wings knocking down things from the shelves. Immediately, Both brothers took off on another race to find a little lost birdy.

They made it to the end of the hall followed by some supply closets and an engine room. No other sound was made, except the gentle "hmm" of the engine room. They stood there listening, just as they were about to try the storage rooms, they were stopped by the sound of intense ruffling and groans. It came muffled through the engine room.

Readying their weapons and not knowing what lies ahead, they crept slowly up to the door. Then Dean proceeded to kick open the door, slamming it against the inner wall of the surprisingly spacious room. Dean couldn't see shit in the darkness, but he heard a small gasp then a scuffle to escape. He patted the sides of the wall looking for a light switch, then he flipped a switch that made the most eerie flickering light ever.

Dean nearly dropped his gun at what he saw. An angel, once very mighty and expressionless, now huddled in a ball with the most pitiful look of woe on his face. His once mighty wings were now lank and fragile. They nearly engulfed his entire body in sickly feathers. He shook and never blinking once looked at Dean with a face that screamed "I'm scared help". Dean stared back with almost as much intensity.

This was his angel…. This was Castiel.


	3. preen

I promised myself to make this chapter longer, but I've got a cold and I'm sorry if I didn't get this as long as I wanted. Isn't funny how you seem to only be able to write when it's really late.

Thanks for the encouraging reviews guys J

Anyways, on with chapter 3 my lovelies

* * *

"What the hell is happening to him" Dean puffed at his little brother

"It kinda looks like he's molting" Sam said, holding up his arms in defense.

Dean and Sam have just taken the poor rattled angel back to their room; now clean of feathers thanks to Sam's strange affinity for a clean room. They found it easy to sneak him back, because strange enough, the Janitor was long gone, only his hat was left in his place.

They looked at the angel that they had to carry back, curled up on the couch, expressionless. He shuddered slightly, moving only to brush out another clump of feathers, frantically looking at them worried then snapping back into his motionless state. He still had neither shirt nor tie, just the trench coat dean had found on their previous wild goose chase. He crumpled in it draping it over his wings making a small canopy and effectively hiding his frame.

Sam turned back to dean who was still in a deadlock with Castiel. Dean's face plastered with sympathy hidden under a macho façade. Castiel had pulled through some pretty rough shit, he thought, so why hasn't he bounced back from this yet. And on that thought, an unbridled feeling spurted from his chest, a sinking feeling, like his body had fallen into an ocean of coolness, while his head shot off from its shoulders into the sky and landed on cloud nine. He had never felt so scared for the angel in his life, and then there was that feeling of vulnerability, that he couldn't do anything to help him. This caused a rage to slowly flower and burn bright like a wild forest fire. He suddenly was pulled from this though when he heard Sam's voice blare in his ear.

"Dean! Are you even listening?!"

"Oh! Um yeah I, I was just dozing off there, sorry Sammy."

"Ok, sure whatever. Anyways I was just saying that I think we should go to Bobby's to find out some more info on… Cas's…Problem."

"Are you crazy we can't leave him alone! What if he decides to run off again?" Dean whispered so only they could hear.

"That's why I'm leaving you with angel babysitting duty. Can you handle that?"

"No way! You're NOT driving my baby all the way to Bobby's place unsupervised!"

"How about we rock, paper, scissors for it?"

* * *

_Fourteen matches and fourteen fails later…_

"I seriously CANNOT BELIEVE you won fourteen times in a row." Dean stomped after Sam as he was about to head out the door.

"I seriously cannot believe how bad of a sport you are" Sam snidely said as he grabbed the keys from Dean. "Ok, make sure he stays out of trouble, I'll try to be back soon."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever mom!" Dean sneered.

"I was talking to Cas." Sam smiled slightly and looked over at the angel, then it faded at the sight of him, worse than before. "Don't worry Cas will find out what's wrong" and with that he left.

Dean turned from the door swiftly and headed for the fridge, then opened it at pulled out two beers. He casually walked back, but stopped about a foot from Castiel. His head this hung slumped between his shoulders. The angels legs tucked closely into his frame. His limbs ever so fidgety. Dean grabbed the remote slowly off the coffee table and flipped through some channels, but found nothing that could cut the awkwardness that fogged up the air. He still stood where he was in front of Castiel. Then Dean experimentally took a few steps forward, then found himself at Cas's side. He set down the beers on the floor. Then he slowly outstretched his arm as if he was about to pet a lion made of porcelain. The moment his hand made contact with his shoulder, Cas jumped, making the coat fall off his mangled wings, he scrambled to put It back on.

"Woe man calm down."Castiel shuttered, still In contacted with the hand. Like the hand he once used to drag him up from hell. "Listen I'm not one for all that girl sharey feely crap, but you're my friend, so tell me what's wrong." He handed Castiel one of the beer's he left on the floor .

"So come on… let's talk."

* * *

Thanks guys for being so patient. I'm so sorry I expected this to be a little longer , but I'm absolutely pooped from school and test. Next time I promise to write a more lengthy chapter, but until then, im gonna be passed out for the next day or so.

Happy thanksgiving!

PS- I also really love feedback and messages.


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